Students of Spanish as a Second Language Worldwide

Spanish is the second foreign language most in demand in Europe and the first one in the United States of America and has over 20 million students throughout the world. Demand for Spanish is soaring and it is moving to take the place of French in Europe as a second foreign language after English .

Spanish language in the USA

Spanish is currently and by far the most widely taught language in US colleges and universities with 53% of the total number of people enrolled, followed by French (14.4%), German (7.1%), Italian (4.5), Japanese (3.7%), and Mandarin Chinese (2.4%).

A curious fact is that the United States is now the world’s second largest Spanish-speaking country after Mexico, so it now has more Spanish speakers (around 50 million) than Spain itself (around 47 million).

The Diplomas of Spanish as a Foreign Language (DELE), issued by the Instituto Cervantes on behalf of the Spanish Ministry for Education, Social Policies and Sport, are official qualifications proving different levels of competence in the Spanish language.